What follows is an email that I received from
a friend. I think it is an important lesson about life and I want
to share it with you.

Subject: Spark of the Divine

At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children, the father of one of the school's students
delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,
he offered a question.

"Everything God does is done with perfection.
Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot
understand things as other children do. Where is God's plan reflected in
my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe," the father
answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity
to realize the Divine Plan presents itself. And it comes in the way people
treat that child."

Then, he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where
some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll
let me play?"

Shay's father knew that most boys would not want
him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were allowed
to play it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging. Shay's father
approached one of the boys on the field and askedif Shay could play.

The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates.
Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing
by six runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on
our team and we'll try to put him up to bat inthe ninth inning." In the bottom of the eighth
inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a
glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was
obviously ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as
his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and bases loaded, the potential
winning run was on base. Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would
the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance
to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.

Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible
because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect
with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved
a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to
make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and
missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly
toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow
ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked upthe soft grounder and could easily have thrown
the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have ended
the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc
to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started
yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never inhis life had Shay ever made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled,
" Run to second, run to second!" By the time Shay was rounding first base,
the right fielder had the ball.

He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman
for a tag. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions
had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.
Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled
the bases towards home.

As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop
ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run
to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming,
"Shay! Run home!" Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered
as the hero, for hitting a "grand slam" and winning the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears
now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece
of true love and humanity into this world."

Shay didnít make it to another summer and died
that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his Father
so happy and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little
hero of the day!

And now, a footnote to the story. We all send
thousands of jokes through e-mail without a second thought, but when it
comes to sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about
sharing.

The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the obscene pass
freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of decency is too often
suppressed in school and the workplace.

If you are thinking about forwarding this message,
you are probably thinking about which people on your address list aren't
the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.

The person who sent this to you believes that
we can all make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities a
day to help realize God's plan.

So many seemingly trivial interactions between
two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a spark of the Divine?
Or do we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a bit colder in
the process?

You have two choices now:1. Delete this.- or -2. Forward it to the people you care about.